There is no rest, no downtime between seasons. This morning we woke up early so that G3 could compete one more time before he takes the rest of the summer off. I think it’s important to take a break, to give your body time to maybe not rest but do something different. And of course take some time to travel, go somewhere new, explore a different place, learn a little more history, and perhaps do some hiking and swimming.
G3 aged up into a new division—13 and 14 year olds—today. There were nearly 100 boys in his division Staging was at 9:30. That’s when all the boys line up according to height and they break them up into groups of 16. But rarely do things run on time at tournaments. ATA stands for American Taekwondo Association. However, we joke that it means All Times Approximate. G3 didn’t end up staging until 10:30 and by the time they finished it was nearly 11. He was given a ring assignment and told he would be competing at 1:30. (But that could be later.) Since we had time to spare and since we didn’t want G3 to be hungry while competing, we went out for pizza. We still got back in time for him to digest and warm up.
The start time was 1:30 and it actually started close enough—around 1:45. G3 did very well. He came in first place in forms and second place in weapons. He lost his second match in combat sparring and he was very disappointed. He didn’t medal in sparring either. That didn’t disappoint him as much considering sparring is his least favorite event. In the 13 and 14 year old ring the boys spar much more aggressively and seem to hit much harder. Needless to say, it’s my least favorite event to watch because I don’t want G3 to get hurt.
By the time we left the venue it was 4:30. Too late to do much but way too early to head back to the hotel. G3 wanted Culver’s for dinner. Since he medaled we let him have his way. We’ve all been wanting to see the new Indiana Jones movie—despite the bad reviews—so instead of going to bed early, we detoured to the movie theater.
SPOILER ALERT:
That was quite possibly one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. I struggled to stay awake through most of it because it was extremely slow moving, utterly ridiculous, and boring. But it was the traveling through time, the arriving at the siege of Syracuse that was completely absurd. Indiana Jones has never been realistic, but time travel is a crossed line I just can’t get behind. I do not recommend the movie, although G3 strongly disagrees with me. He thinks it was one of the better Indiana Jones movies. Of course this is just one more instance where I wish I could call Dad up and have a conversation. He loved the Indiana Jones movies and I wonder what his opinion would have been regarding this one. He certainly did have a better ability than I to suspend belief when it came to movies so maybe he wouldn’t have found it quit as farcical as I did. Would he have agreed with me or G3? My guess is he would have fallen somewhere in between.
Elizabeth Jaeger 